Matters personal to the offender Darabi
55The material I have as to matters personal to the offender Darabi are a Pre-Sentence Report, a report of Dr Richard Furst, a psychological assessment report by Ms Zilenkov, psychologist, and some documents in relation to "Prolonged Asylum Seeker Syndrome".
56Mr Darabi gave evidence which included that what he had told the authors of reports was truthful. He was not cross-examined about that.
57Mr Darabi is a 25 year old Kurdish man who grew up in Illam, a province in the western region of Iran near the Iran-Iraq border, his family having fled from Iraq. His father died when he was a toddler and he grew up with his mother and sister. He was unable to attend school and was educated at home. He worked on farms as a child, growing wheat and herding sheep. He also did some labouring work.
58The Iran-Iraq war had ended by the time of his childhood but he told Dr Furst that he saw people returning to his village who had been maimed and had other war-related disabilities.
59Mr Darabi was unable to obtain an identification card because of his family origins and so he was not a citizen of his country of birth. Dr Furst described him as "stateless". (The document used by Serco to keep track of detainees lists his nationality as "Iranian", but there is no evidence before me as to how that information was generated.) This resulted in him and his family not having access to government services, such as education and health care. He claimed to have been harassed and, on one occasion, assaulted by the Basij, a domestic paramilitary security force who, Mr Darabi has claimed, regard Kurdish people as the enemy. That was what he told Ms Zilenkov. He told Dr Furst that he "denied being directly threatened by security forces in Iran".
60Mr Darabi left Iran and came to Australia, via a boat from Indonesia, on 29 January 2010. He described the sea voyage as traumatising. He told Dr Furst that he came to Australia as "he had no hope in his home country, coming to Australia because he wanted to study, get married, have children and build a future for himself". He added, "I had heaps of hope then. I have no hope now". Why he chose to come to Australia without prior approval was not explained.
61His account to Dr Furst included that the conditions on Christmas Island, where he spent about six months, were difficult, it being overcrowded and where detainees were self-harming and suiciding.
62He was transferred to Villawood in mid-2010. He claimed that conditions remained poor and he lost hope in the immigration and visa application process. He heard about people committing suicide and witnessed two people killing themselves, including his neighbour and friend, an Iraqi detainee, who killed himself in a bathroom. His best friend tried to commit suicide and he was aware of a Fijian detainee who jumped from a roof and died. In this respect, the history parallels that of Mr Razai.
63Mr Darabi told Dr Furst that he found the trauma of these events very difficult to come to terms with. He became increasingly depressed and demoralised and entertained thoughts of suicide himself.
64Dr Furst's report then refers to Mr Darabi's account of the offence. It included that his application for a visa had been rejected on three occasions. In his evidence before me he said he "had been rejected three or four times" (15.3.13 at T38.12). This is not quite accurate; it was, in fact, twice. The account to Dr Furst also included that "he had been in detention for about two years at the time". When speaking about the offence to the author of the Pre-Sentence Report he said "I was so sick and tired of being in the centre for three years" (emphasis added). Later in that report it is said that he attributed his participation in the offences to having been held in detention for approximately two years. The truth is he had been in detention since arriving in Australia for 15 months.
65He said that he was "under a lot of pressure" and "went to the roof to talk", meaning speak to the DIAC and human rights advocates. He "wanted to tell them I was here. I wanted to be listened to".
66He told Dr Furst that he felt ashamed of his actions and "expressed remorse". "It was a shameful thing. Not a good thing. A bad start". Exactly what he said when he "expressed remorse" is not further disclosed. When cross-examined by the Crown Prosecutor he acknowledged that protesting in such a violent way was unacceptable; that the actions of himself and the other detainees caused a lot of distress to a lot of people; and that throwing large and heavy tiles off the roof would cause people to fear for their safety. He added, "I accept and I regret what I did and I'm very sorry" (15.3.13 at T39).
67His credibility suffered, however, when he denied seeing one of the main perpetrators of violence from the roof, Majid Parhizkar, throwing a large number of tiles into the centre of the compound. The video footage shows that anyone in the vicinity, as Mr Darabi was, could not have failed to have noticed. He also claimed, incredibly, not to have seen a raging fire on the soccer field or detainees running around spraying fire extinguishers into the air. He claimed not to remember that there were many more Serco staff in the compound than normal; that there was a lot of noise and yelling by detainees; and that detainees were chanting "freedom" (15.3.13 at T40).
68Mr Darabi has received treatment for depression and anxiety, seeing a psychologist once or twice a week and having been prescribed sleeping medication for about seven or eight months last year.
69Dr Furst recorded that there was no history of drug or alcohol abuse, no significant medical history, and no family history of mental illness.
70Contact with his family has been confined to about once every six months. His mother is said to be old, sick and confined to bed and this makes Mr Darabi feel guilty about his inability to help her and his sister.
71Dr Furst made the psychiatric diagnosis that Mr Darabi was suffering from Major Depressive Disorder. He remarked that Mr Darabi's "depression and sense of demoralisation appears to have been caused by his prolonged detention after arriving in Australia by boat on 29/01/10, over three years ago, and the lack of any pathway towards a protection visa or back to his homeland, as he is essentially stateless".
72It was Dr Furst's opinion that Mr Darabi's participation in the disturbance at the VIDC on 20 April 2011 was "probably driven by his high levels of emotional distress, depression, and the frustration he was experiencing at the time, and his sense of hopelessness and demoralisation. He was also motivated by an apparent wish to tell the authorities what was happening to him and voice his plight. His actions also appear to be a matter where Mr Darabi acted out of character in the exceptional circumstances that he found himself in."
73Dr Furst set out a variety of recommended treatments for Mr Darabi, both in the community and in a custodial environment. Generally they involve engagement with psychiatric and psychological counselling as well as with vocational, educational or social activities. Antidepressant medication is also indicated as an option.
74Depression, social isolation, poor English skills and the trauma of being detained since arriving in Australia three years ago are the bases of Dr Furst's opinion that "a custodial sentence is likely to weigh more heavily on Mr Darabi than the average inmate".